BETA

The Bota.

A song for the Bota !  We’ll sing in merry strain,1
Long may the Leather Bottle bless the sunny land of Spain !2
Great Hercules, he drained it with a real three times three,3
When he choked the triple Geryon, and stripped th’ Hesperian tree.4
Bold Hannibal and Wellington, Black Edward and the Cid,5
They drained it at the Pyrenees, Saguntum, and Madrid.6
But those who drained it heartiest and deepest far away, man,7
Were the jolly sinful Saracens who marched with Abderrhaman.*8
Oh, the Bota ! the Bota !  Let us sing in merry strain,9
Long may the Leather Bottle bless the sunny land of Spain !10
Saint Jago, he’s the Patron Saint of Leon and Castile ;11
He led our ancient chivalry that made the Moslem reel :12
With the bottle at his saddle-bow he taught a lesson fine,13
To leather well your enemy, first leather well your wine.14
He blessed the Spanish olive tree ; he blessed the Spanish corn ;15
He blessed the black-eyed Spanish girls, the sweetest ever born.16
But the richest blessing gurgled up along his saintly throttle,17
When he blessed the good old Spanish wine in a good old Leather Bottle.18
Oh, the Bota ! the Bota ! Let us sing in merry strain :19
Long may the Leather Bottle bless the sunny land of Spain !20
The pitcher and the glass will break, the silver wears away,21
But the leather, boys, will last you till Conflagration Day !22
Great kings may give us cups of gold, whene’er as guests they gain us ;23
The old Borracha, I prefer, filled up with valdepênas.24
I’m happy in the pigskin on a Spanish courser’s back ;25
My wine it likes the pigskin ; and I like the pigskin’s smack.26
Then fill for me, Senora ! Fill up, and you shall see27
How deeply and how heartily I’ll drink to Spain and thee !28
Oh, the Bota ! the Bota !  We’ll sing in merry strain,29
Long may the Leather Bottle bless the sunny land of Spain !30
* Commander of the Saracen invading army against Charles Martel, at
Tours, on which famous battle-field he was slain, and his army defeated.